"Less than a penny of every dollar goes directly to a Haitian organization."
"So as Haiti approaches the fifth anniversary of its cholera epidemic later this year, the main hope for eradication rests on political and legal pressure on the U.N. to come up with the money."
1. USAID and their contributions to Haiti
2. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and their impact
3. The United Nations and if they've been sued by Haiti for cholera epidemic
"... Haiti is a long, long way from realizing the bullish goal of 'building back better.'''
"... hope for eradication [of cholera] rests on ... the U.N. to come up with the money."
I used my already existing knowledge of the UN's structure and purpose to further synthesize the role and ability of the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. I also followed up on what sort and amount of aid US AID has been giving to Haiti. From their website, I discovered that they have donated $4.2 billion to date and have assisted in improving legal protections for vulnerable populations. Finally, I followed up on the fact that at press-time, the UN had not admitted responsibility for the cholera outbreak. I found a New York Time article dated 17 AUG 16 that says they had and are making significant new actions toward improving the situation.
The article notes the U.N.'s role in the cholera epidemic that killed thousands of Haitians and government and societal factors that lead to Haiti's lack of major improvement after the earthquake. Another public health issue that was mentioned was, "the only part of the Haitian government that receives direct funding from the U.S. government, the Health Ministry, has racked up impressive post-earthquake gains in childhood vaccination rates and access to lifesaving HIV treatment".
The article discusses how public health crises can suffer from lack of funding due to a number of reasons including organizations not taking responsibility for their actions, inefficient use of resources, and difficulty in fundraising. It also talks about the difficulty of holding international groups accountable for their actions, that warrant an emergency response, in a nation.
Brian Concannon (executive director) and Beatrice Lindstrom (lawyer) of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a nonprofit in Boston that fights for human rights on the island
Carrie Kahn is an international correspondent for NPR.
President Michel Martelly was the president of Haiti (from May 2011 to February 2016).
Ban Ki-moon; the 8th and current Secretary General of the United Nations.
Jake Johnston is a researcher "of the Washington-based Center for Economic Policy and Research"
UN - potentially caused the cholera outbreak, organized/managing response to the cholera outbreak without acknowledging responsibility for it
Pedro Medrano - UN coordinator for the response in Haiti
USAID - donor of approximately $1.5 billion since earthquake, uses international contractors to rebuild Haiti
Health Ministry - part of the Haitian govt. that manages country health and vaccinations
Ban Ki-moon - won't acknowledge possible UN role in creating cholera outbreak, UN Secretary-General
Haitian Government - currently undergoing disruption due to a change in terms of its Senators and disagreements between parties
The main point of the article was that despite $13.5 billion in monetary dontions to Haiti, the country is not much better than before the earthquake. The article notes Haiti's ongoing political turmoil, a cholera epidemic (which the U.N. is underfunding and not taking credit for causing), and the system which stifles foreign aid to Haiti as factors for the lack of actual improvements to Haiti even with the large amount of donations they received.
This article discussses why Haiti can't "build back better" after the series of disasters that have come its way. The article mentions that Haiti has become reliant upon international contractors as aid when building back because of local and international distrust of the government. This combined with the fact that many public health experts think that the UN is responsible for the cholera outbreak has caused fewer donations, and those donations that are recieved to be used less efficiently.